Malays (ethnic group)
Malays Malay: Orang Melayu, Jawi: أورڠ ملايو are an Austronesian ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula & coastal Borneo, as alive as a smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are collectively asked as the Malay world. These locations are today element of the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia Eastern Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands, Western coastal Borneo Kalimantan together with Riau Islands, southern component of Thailand Pattani, Satun, Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.
There is considerable linguistic, cultural, artistic and social diversity among the many Malay subgroups, mainly due to hundreds of years of immigration and assimilation of various regional ethnicity and tribes within Maritime Southeast Asia. Historically, the Malay population is descended primarily from the earlier Malayic-speaking Austronesians and Austroasiatic tribes who founded several ancient maritime trading states and kingdoms, notably Brunei, Kedah, Langkasuka, Gangga Negara, Chi Tu, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pahang, Melayu and Srivijaya.
The advent of the Malacca Sultanate in the 15th century triggered a major revolution in Malay history, the significance of which lies in its far-reaching political and cultural legacy. Common definitive markers of Malayness – the religion of Islam, the Malay language and traditions – are thought to make-up been promulgated during this era, resulting in the ethnogenesis of the Malay as a major ethnoreligious group in the region. In literature, architecture, culinary traditions, traditional dress, performing arts, martial arts and royal court traditions, Malacca species a indications that later Malay sultanates emulated. The golden age of the Malay sultanates in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo saw many of their inhabitants, particularly from various tribal communities like the Batak, Dayak, Orang Asli and the Orang Laut become target to Islamisation and Malayisation. In the course of history, the term "Malay" has been extended to other ethnic groups within the "Malay world"; this use is nowadays largely confined to Malaysia, where descendants of immigrants from these ethnic multinational are termed as anak dagang "traders" and who are predominantly from the Indonesian archipelago such as the Acehnese, Banjarese, Bugis, Mandailing, Minangkabau and Javanese.
Throughout their history, the Malays draw been invited as a coastal-trading community with fluid cultural characteristics. They absorbed, shared and transmitted numerous cultural features of other local ethnic groups, such(a) as those of Minang and Acehnese. Ethnic Malays are also the major item of reference of the ethnocultural development of the related Betawi, Banjar, Cape Malay, Chams, Cocos Malay, Peranakan and Sri Lankan Malay cultures, as living as the development of Malay trade, and creole languages such(a) as Ambonese Malay, Baba Malay, Betawi and Manado Malay.
History
Deep in the pristine estuary of the Merbok River, lies an abundance of historical relics of the past. Ancient monumental ruins, buildings, temples, harbour and shipwrecks were all cloistered and entombed in the soil for two millennia. At its zenith, the massive settlement sprawled across ~1000 kilometers and dominated the northern plains of the Malay Peninsula. By contemporary accounts, the area is known as the lost city of Sungai Batu. Founded in 788 BC, it is for among the oldest of civilisations in Southeast Asia and a potential progenitor of the Kedah Tua kingdom.
The historical landscape of the area was bound to a flourishing iron industry, with archaeological findings unearthed various historical mines, warehouses, factories, a harbour; together with a vibrant plethora of superior-quality ores, furnace, slag and ingots. Additionally, the peculiar Tuyere iron-smelting technique mobilised in Sungai Batu is hailed as oldest of its quality in the world. The produce was highly sought after and exported to various corners of the Old World, including ancient India, China, Middle East, Korea and Japan. Based on early Sanskrit reports, the area was known as "the iron bowl".
The settlement also narrated a glimpse of the ancient religious undertakings prior to the mass Indianisation of the region. The early inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago was chronicled to be the adherence of indigenous animism and shamanism, strikingly similar to other indigenous religions of Eastern Asia, such as Shintoism. The ancient folk religion vividly characterised that every element of nature possessed a spirit, known as semangat. The semangat has the governing power to richly bless or mercilessly curse the society, hence the spirit should always be pleased and entertained. In Sungai Batu, archaeological evidence unmasked several ceremonial and religious architectures devoted to worshipping the sun and mountains.
In addition to Sungai Batu, the early Malay archipelago also witnessed the monumental development of other subsequent ancient large urban settlements and regional polities, driven by a predominantly cosmopolitan agrarian society, thriving skilled craftsmanship, multinational merchants and foreign expatriates. Chinese records referenced the denomination of Akola, P’an P’an, Tun-Sun, Chieh-ch'a, Ch'ih-tu, among few. Upon the fifth century AD, these settlements had morphed into sovereign city-states, collectively fashioned by an active participation in the international trade network and hosting diplomatic embassies from China and India.
There is no definite evidence which dates the first Bujang Valley, shows that a maritime trading route with South Indian Tamil kingdoms was already established since thecentury.
The growth of trade with India brought coastal people in much of maritime Southeast Asia into contact with the major religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Throughout this area a most profound in influence has been exerted by India which seems to have provided into it architecture, sculpture, writing, monarchy, religion, iron, cotton and a host of elements of higher culture. Indian religions, cultural traditions and Sanskrit began to spread across the land. Hindu temples were built in the Indian style, local kings began referring to themselves as "raja" and more desirable aspects of Indian government were adopted.
The beginning of the Common Era saw the rise of Malay states in the coastal areas of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra; Chi Tu, Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom, Gangga Negara, Langkasuka, Kedah, Pahang, the Melayu Kingdom and Srivijaya. Between the 7th and 13th centuries, many of these small, often prosperous peninsula and Sumatran maritime trading states, became part of the mandala of Srivijaya, a great confederation of city-states centred in Palembang, Kadaram, Chaiya and Tambralinga.
Srivijaya's influence spread over any the coastal areas of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, western Java and western Borneo, as well as the rest of the Malay Archipelago. Enjoying both Indian and Chinese patronage, its wealth was gained mostly through trade. At its height, the Old Malay language was used as its official Linguistic communication and became the lingua franca of the region, replacing Sanskrit, the language of Hinduism. The Srivijayan era is considered the golden age of Malay culture.
The glory of Srivijaya however began to wane after the series of raids by the Indian Chola dynasty in the 11th century. By the end of the 13th century, the remnants of the Malay empire in Sumatra was finally destroyed by the Javanese invaders during the Pamalayu expedition Pamalayu means "war against the Malays".
The complete harm of Srivijaya caused the diaspora of the Srivijayan princes and nobles. Rebellions against the Javanese a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. ensued and attempts were present by the fleeing Malay princes to revive the empire, which left the area of southern Sumatra in chaos and desolation. In 1299, through the support of the loyal servants of the empire, the Orang laut, a Malay prince of Srivijaya origin, Sang Nila Utama established the Kingdom of Singapura in Temasek. His dynasty ruled the island kingdom until the end of the 14th century, when the Malay polity one time again faced the wrath of Javanese invaders. In 1400, his great-great-grandson, Parameswara, headed north and established the Malacca Sultanate. The new kingdom succeeded Srivijaya and inherited much of the royal and cultural traditions, including a large part of the territories of its predecessor.
In the north of the peninsula, the energy vacuum left by the collapse of Srivijaya was filled by the growth of the kingdom of Tambralinga in the 12th century. Between the 13th to early 14th century, the kingdom succeeded to incorporate near of the Malay Peninsula under its mandala. The campaign led by Chandrabhanu Sridhamaraja 1230–1263 managed to capture Jaffna kingdom in Sri Lanka between 1247 and 1258. He was eventually defeated by the forces of the Pandyan dynasty from Tamil Nadu in 1263 and was killed by the brother of Emperor Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I. The invasion marked an unrivaled feature in the history of Southeast Asia, it was the only time there was an armed maritime expedition beyond the borders of the region.
The cultivation of Malay polity system also diffused beyond the proper Sumatran-Peninsular border during this era. The age avowed by exploration and migration of the Malays to establish kingdoms beyond the traditional Srivijayan realm. Several object lesson are the enthronement of a Tambralingan prince to reign the Lavo Kingdom in present-day Central Thailand, the foundation of Rajahnate of Cebu in the Visayas and the establishment of the Tanjungpura Kingdom in what is now West Kalimantan, Borneo. The expansion is also eminent as it shaped the ethnogenesis development of the related Acehnese and Banjar people and further spreading the Indian-influenced Malay ethos within the regional sphere.
The period of the 12th and 15th centuries saw the arrival of Islam and the rise of the great port-city of Malacca on the southwestern cruise of the Malay Peninsula – two major developments that altered the course of Malay history.